Alien Life Discovery May Prompt Rethinking of Faith

With the help of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) have been detected in the atmosphere of an exoplanet—compounds that on Earth are produced solely through biological processes. This suggests that the planet very likely harbors at least microbial life.

In 2022, the James Webb Telescope also detected methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the planet K2-18 b, which in itself could indicate the possibility of life. The two newly discovered chemicals reinforce this possibility, although their presence alone is still not enough to confirm the discovery of life with certainty.

It is clear that research on planet K2-18 b will receive funding following these observations. Therefore, it is likely that within a reasonably short time—just a few years—we may finally find out whether life on Earth is truly unique in the universe.

If that turns out not to be the case, it would have enormous implications for human life on Earth as well. This is because all religions that include a creation story would be forced to re-evaluate their doctrines — and perhaps even admit that we humans may not be quite as unique among the beings of the universe as we’ve been accustomed to believing.

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The Dire Wolf and the Rights of Extinct Human Species
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Human curiosity altered an orbit of an asteroid

Human curiosity altered an orbit of an asteroid

I am sure that all of my readers are aware of the cause of the end of the dinosaur era. It was caused 66 million years ago by a massive asteroid 10 to 15 km wide, which devastated the global environment, mainly through a lingering impact winter which halted photosynthesis in plants and plankton.

If a similar asteroid would land on earth, it would mean the end of human civilization, if not even the presence of humans on the planet. Therefore it has been considered as one of the most frightening threats to our future.

Two weeks ago NASA succeeded in altering an orbit of an asteroid using a spacecraft. The achievement showed that  humans could redirect future celestial threats to our planet, and allows us to forget about the threat caused by uninvited asteroids.

The physics and technology allowing the NASA achievement should also be considered as evidence on the importance of curiosity driven science. Without our will to find and learn about the true nature of stars, space and planets, we would have never heard about the possibility to alter orbits of asteroids. 

And actually, we would not even know that asteroids existed - nor that one of those would have been responsible on the disappearance of dinosaurs. And well, without human curiosity we would not even know that dinosaurs lived more than 60 million years ago. 

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Scientific community discriminates its youngsters
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Vikings and the technological cutting edge